Six-Day War 1967: Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria at War

The Six-Day War was fought between Israel and the neighbouring states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria from 5 to 10 June 1967. Opening with an Israeli air strike that destroyed most of Egypt’s air force on the ground, it ended with Israel in control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, reshaping the map and politics of the Middle East for decades.

Background

The Arab states had not recognised Israel since the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, which also created the Palestinian refugee problem. After the Suez Crisis of 1956, a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) was stationed on the Egyptian side of the border in Sinai and at Sharm el-Sheikh, keeping the Straits of Tiran open to Israeli shipping heading for the port of Eilat.

In the mid-1960s tensions rose again. Israel’s National Water Carrier and Arab plans to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River led to clashes. Palestinian guerrilla groups such as Fatah mounted raids into Israel from Syria and Jordan, and Israel launched reprisals, including a large raid on the West Bank village of Samu in November 1966. On 7 April 1967 an air battle over the Syrian border ended with six Syrian MiGs shot down.

Egypt’s president Gamal Abdel Nasser was the leading figure of Arab nationalism but faced criticism from rivals for sheltering behind UN troops. Much of his army was also tied down in a civil war in Yemen.

The crisis of May 1967

In mid-May 1967 the Soviet Union told Egypt, incorrectly, that Israel was massing troops on the Syrian border. On 14 May Nasser began sending large forces into Sinai. On 16 May he asked UNEF to withdraw, and UN Secretary-General U Thant agreed. On 22 May Nasser announced the closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, a step Israel had long declared would be a cause for war.

Arab public opinion was electrified, and radio broadcasts promised Israel’s destruction. On 30 May King Hussein of Jordan flew to Cairo and signed a defence pact with Egypt, placing his army under an Egyptian commander; Iraq soon joined. Israel mobilised its reserves, crippling its economy, while diplomatic efforts to reopen the straits made little headway.

In Israel, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol was under heavy pressure. On 1 June a national unity government was formed, with former chief of staff Moshe Dayan as defence minister and opposition leader Menachem Begin in the cabinet. On 4 June the cabinet approved military action. Historians continue to debate whether Nasser actually intended to start a war or hoped to win a political victory through brinkmanship.

5 June: the air strike

At about 7:45 a.m. Israeli time on 5 June 1967, the Israeli Air Force launched Operation Focus (Moked). Flying low over the Mediterranean to avoid radar, almost its entire combat force struck Egyptian airfields while many aircraft were on the ground. Within hours most of Egypt’s air force had been destroyed, along with runways.

When Jordan, Syria and Iraq opened fire and launched air raids later that morning, Israeli aircraft attacked their air bases too. By the end of the first day Israel had destroyed several hundred Arab aircraft, most of them Egyptian, and by the end of the war around 400 to 450 according to commonly cited figures; it held air superiority for the rest of the war.

The ground war

Israel’s ground campaign unfolded on three fronts in turn: first against Egypt in the south, then against Jordan in the centre and finally against Syria in the north. Its commanders benefited from complete control of the air, short internal lines of communication and a high level of training among reservists, while Arab armies suffered from poor coordination and confused orders.

Sinai and Gaza

The same morning three Israeli armoured divisions, commanded by Israel Tal, Avraham Yoffe and Ariel Sharon, attacked in Sinai. Tal’s forces broke through at Rafah and advanced along the coast to El Arish, while Sharon’s division took the fortified Egyptian positions at Abu Ageila in a night battle on 5–6 June. Gaza was also captured.

On 6 June Egypt’s commander, Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, ordered a general retreat from Sinai. The withdrawal turned into a rout, and Israeli forces raced to block the mountain passes. Sharm el-Sheikh was taken on 7 June, reopening the straits, and Israeli troops reached the Suez Canal on 8 June. Egypt accepted a ceasefire that night.

Jerusalem and the West Bank

Israel sent messages through UN channels urging King Hussein to stay out of the fighting, but Jordanian forces shelled Israeli West Jerusalem and other areas on 5 June. Israel responded with attacks on the West Bank and around Jerusalem. On 6 June paratroopers fought a bloody battle for Ammunition Hill north of the Old City.

On 7 June Israeli paratroopers under Colonel Mordechai Gur entered the walled Old City through the Lions’ Gate and took the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. Gur’s radio message that the Temple Mount was “in our hands” became one of the best-remembered phrases of the war. By the evening Israeli forces controlled the whole West Bank, and Jordan accepted a ceasefire.

The Golan Heights

Syria had shelled Israeli villages below the Golan Heights but made only limited ground attacks. After debate, Israel attacked the heights on 9 June, storming fortified positions such as Tel Faher. On 10 June Syrian forces withdrew and Israeli troops entered Quneitra. A UN-brokered ceasefire took effect that evening, ending the war.

On 8 June Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats also attacked the American intelligence ship USS Liberty off Sinai, killing 34 crew members. Israel said it had mistaken the ship’s identity and paid compensation; the incident remains controversial.

Key people

• Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970): president of Egypt, whose moves in May 1967 triggered the crisis and whose prestige never fully recovered from the defeat.
• Levi Eshkol (1895–1969): Israeli prime minister, criticised for hesitation during the waiting period but in office throughout the war.
• Moshe Dayan (1915–1981): defence minister from 1 June 1967, who became the public face of the Israeli victory.
• Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995): chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, later prime minister and a signatory of the Oslo Accords.
• King Hussein of Jordan (1935–1999): Jordan’s ruler, who joined the war under Arab pressure and lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
• Abdel Hakim Amer (1919–1967): Egypt’s commander-in-chief, who ordered the retreat from Sinai; he was arrested after the war and died in custody in September 1967.

By the numbers

Consequences

The territory under Israeli control more than tripled. Around 1 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza came under Israeli military rule, and hundreds of thousands fled or were displaced, many for the second time since 1948. Israel extended its law over East Jerusalem in late June 1967, a step not recognised internationally, and began building settlements in the occupied territories.

For the Arab states the defeat was a profound shock, known in Arabic as the Naksa, or “setback”. Nasser offered to resign on 9 June but withdrew after mass demonstrations of support. At the Khartoum summit in September 1967 Arab leaders adopted the “three noes”: no peace with Israel, no recognition and no negotiations. Disillusionment with Arab governments boosted independent Palestinian movements, and Yasser Arafat’s Fatah took over the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1969.

On 22 November 1967 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242, calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the conflict and for the right of all states in the region to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries. Its “land for peace” principle underlies most later diplomacy. The Suez Canal stayed closed until 1975.

Legacy

Fighting soon resumed along the canal in the War of Attrition, and in 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked in the Yom Kippur War. Egypt eventually regained Sinai through peace with Israel after the Camp David Accords. The status of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and the fate of the Palestinians living there, remain central issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The war also changed how Israel and its neighbours saw themselves. In Israel the swift victory produced euphoria and a belief in the army’s superiority that contributed to unpreparedness in 1973, while the capture of Jerusalem’s holy sites gave new force to religious nationalism. In the Arab world the defeat led many to question the promises of secular nationalist leaders, and the Palestinian cause increasingly became one that Palestinians pursued themselves.

Timeline

• 1967, 14 May: Egyptian forces begin moving into Sinai.
• 1967, 16–18 May: Egypt requests, and the UN carries out, the withdrawal of UNEF.
• 1967, 22 May: Nasser announces the closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
• 1967, 30 May: Jordan signs a defence pact with Egypt.
• 1967, 5 June: Israel launches Operation Focus; ground war begins in Sinai and Jerusalem.
• 1967, 7 June: Israel captures the Old City of Jerusalem and the West Bank; Jordan accepts a ceasefire.
• 1967, 8 June: Israeli forces reach the Suez Canal; USS Liberty is attacked.
• 1967, 9–10 June: Israel captures the Golan Heights; the final ceasefire takes effect.
• 1967, 22 November: UN Security Council adopts Resolution 242.

Why it matters

In under a week the Six-Day War transformed the Middle East. It established Israel as the region’s dominant military power, discredited Arab nationalist regimes, revived Palestinian nationalism and created the occupied territories whose future still lies at the heart of the conflict today.